Item details: An Actual Survey of the Great Post-Roads between London and Edinburgh
£ 350.00
ARMSTRONG, Mostyn John
An Actual Survey of the Great Post-Roads between London and Edinburgh
Imprint: London, 1st of August 1776
Binding: Hardback
Octavo (190 x 120 mm.), contemporary half calf, marbled paper boards, spine with raised bands, blind ruled, with gilt red calf title, worn. With engraved title, pp. 7, (1), 44, (1), with general plan and 44 maps, in early outline colour, in good condition.
Mostyn John Armstrong (fl.1769-91) was the son of Andrew Armstrong, both were cartographers although only the son published any atlas. Their focus was on Scottish related material with the notable exception of three large scale county maps of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. This is the second edition of this work, the date on the title page is altered to 1 August 1776, from 1 June, matching that of the dedication to Thomas Pennant on the following page. The title is expanded also with the insertion of ‘With the Country Three Miles, on each Side, Drawn on a Scale of Half an Inch to a Mile’ to promote the scale of the depiction. The ensuing preliminary leaves are also altered somewhat being reduced from 8 to 7 pages. The advert for the map of Lincolnshire is replaced for an announcement of the availability of 'An Actual Survey of the Great Post-Road between London and Dover; With a general View of the Road to Paris' from December for 3s. The ‘Alphabetical Index of the Post-Towns’ is reduced from two to one page, those towns within 3 miles of the route now deemed unnecessary to list.The plates themselves are also altered now bearing the names of the main towns and cities across the top. A further advert is placed at the back ‘For the Conveniency of Persons who wish to lighten the Expence of a Journey, and chuse at the same time their own Hours, Inns, Carriages, Company and Accommodations of every sort: there had been for some time established, A Traveller’s Office’, this being at ‘No. 2, Bridge-Street, opposite Ludgate-hill’. This example contains a small inserted map opposite plate number 24 of Durham. It is entitled 'Plan of the Roads from Scarbro' Whitby, & c. to Sunderland, Shields, & c. Through York, Durham, & c. and of that through Guisbro' Stockton, Castle Eden, & c.'. It records new turnpike roads opened in 1790 and 1797. Provenance: manuscript ownership inscription on the title of 'J. Clarke 1793', bookplate of William Gordon Ross, Royal Engineers, pasted on verso of the title; private English collection. References: Carroll App. 14.1; ESTC N16384; Fordham (1924) p. 31 not differentiating the two 1776 editions.
Stock number:9829.